Assessing Farm Operations, Technology, and Management As Indicators for Corn Stover Harvest.

Corn stover can be removed from farm fields for several reasons, including for animal feed, bioenergy markets, or pest management. This project evaluated national data to evaluate how farm operations, technology, and management practices differed between farms that removed corn stover and those that kept the stover in the field. Farms harvesting corn grain for feed had a greater likelihood for removing corn stover. Farms that reduced in-field crop residues as part of pest management practices also had a greater likelihood for removing corn stover. Lower rates of corn stover removal were estimated for farm fields that were under some form of rental agreement. This project complements other research on farmer participation in corn stover removal and provides useful data on farm operations, technology, and management practices that can be evaluated in future studies.